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Obese killer on death row launches new plea, claims innocence

In this Nov. 2005 file photo, public information director Larry Greene is shown in the death chamber at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, Ohio. Warden Donald Morgan says the state's execution table can easily hold Ronald Post, scheduled to be executed in January 2013, who has argued arguing that because of his obesity, an attempt to put him to death would amount to cruel and unusual punishment.Photo: AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato, File

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A condemned obese killer has launched a second legal argument in an effort to halt his execution in January.

Death row inmate Ronald Post is already fighting execution on the grounds that he is so fat he can’t be humanely executed and will suffer cruel and unusual punishment as the state struggles to find his veins or give him enough drugs to put someone his size to death.

That argument is in the federal courts, while the 450-pound Post pursues an innocence claim unrelated to his weight before the parole board. The panel considers requests for mercy before making a recommendation to Gov. John Kasich, who has the final say.

Now Posts’ lawyers are arguing he should be spared due to lingering doubts about his “legal and moral guilt” and the conduct of lawyers at his trial.

Post’s lawyers made presentations to the state parole board Thursday followed by county prosecutors and the attorney general’s office. The state says the hearing could last two days.

Post, 53, was sentenced to die for the 1983 shooting of Elyria motel clerk Helen Vantz during a robbery. Vantz’ sons, William and Michael, both attended Thursday’s hearing.

Confession Questioned

The long-held presumption that Post confessed to the murder to several people has been falsely exaggerated, Post’s attorneys argue. Post admitted involvement in the crime as the getaway driver to a police informant but did not admit to the killing.

“Sure ain’t no murderer,” Post told that informant, according to Post’s clemency filing.

Doubt about Post’s guilt lingers because of the involvement of two other men in the shooting, Post’s lawyers argue. Post pleaded no contest to the crime on the advice of his lawyer in expectation he would receive a life sentence. Even after his plea, he told a psychologist “he was not a murderer.”

The lawyers also argue that prosecutors misrepresented to the judge that Post had confessed to sole involvement in Vantz’s death.

A federal judge plans a hearing later this month on Post’s obesity claims.